About

Photos: Alice Rodgers, Shane Rodgers and Patsy Mindedal.

Gavin's History

Gavin's is a family run business. Established in 1898 by the Gavin Family, it was originally a bakery which was attached, at the rear of the building to the Castlebar prison (now the Castlebar Motor Tax Office). In 1968 Shane Rodgers (son of Alice Gavin/Rodgers) took over and turned it into a grocery shop. Where he and his sister Ailish continued to work. It was also where Gavin's famous ice cream machine built it's reputation. Many a warm summers day have been spent on The Mall by people enjoying a creamy Gavin's ice cream.

In 1979 Shane branched out to open Gavin's Video Club, the first video library in Castlebar. Starting with Betamex video cassettes, the very small video shop started to flourish. People from Castlebar and beyond came to hire videos, which were recorded on paper filing cards by name. The shop got busier and busier, changed to VHS and eventually moved from the small room under the house stairs to the archway beside the grocery shop. It continued to grow building up a collection of over 120,000 videos and dvds combined. Another shop was opened in Westport in 1989, giving much summer work to the Rodgers family, their relatives the Fullards, and many others.